"The reason this series is in is because of the 2015 World Cup," Cook said. "We really want to have some warm-ups in Australia to get used to those conditions just before that World Cup. That makes sense for our preparation then, so obviously as a reciprocal thing they have to come here. As players we don't mind. It's going to be a brilliant, hopefully, ten days.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-australia-2012/content/current/story/570334.html

The stake is also high for Australia as Michael Clarke mentioned this tour as good preparation for Ashes (http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/568353.html).

It's going to be a good series, I'm really looking forward to it. I think there's no clear favorites, but considering England is playing at home they might have slight advantage.

TigerEz

June 28, 2012, 11:01 PM

LETS GO ENGLAND!!!Me and my Dad are always up for the Ashes!

Kohli_Sox

June 29, 2012, 02:54 AM

It's going to be a good series; looking forward to Warner vs Swann

zinatf

June 29, 2012, 04:13 AM

Come on Australia!

Bonglababu

June 29, 2012, 04:24 AM

Oz have won the toss and put the hosts in to bat. Hoping to see a nail biter.

Kohli_Sox

June 29, 2012, 04:43 AM

It's a tough decision to get six bowlers down to three," Michael Clarke says before confirming it's Cummins, Lee and McKay as the fast men.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-australia-2012/engine/current/match/534215.html

Interesting combination; Pattinson could play he had a season in County:sigh:

Naimul_Hd

June 29, 2012, 05:06 AM

Should be an interesting series. England is a favorite to win the series but its Pommie, who never know :)

Here we come, Aussie rulez :)

Naimul_Hd

June 29, 2012, 05:09 AM

Good start by Aussies. Good toss to win.

Naimul_Hd

June 29, 2012, 05:12 AM

damn, rain gets heavier now.

Naimul_Hd

June 29, 2012, 05:17 AM

Hope its a passing shower !

Pommies are under pressure already. Good weather for Pace bowlers to have some purchase. Batters have to bat really hard on this pitch.

Kohli_Sox

June 29, 2012, 05:28 AM

England too cautious at start but Aussies bowling has been good generally and on and off not helping either sides though

After this 5 match odi series, they will play 5 test in July/Aug. Then 3 T20 and then 5 ODI again:smh:
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zinatf

June 29, 2012, 07:55 AM

5 ODI again?

zinatf

June 29, 2012, 07:56 AM

Ahh well....more chance to beat the pommies :D

Bonglababu

June 29, 2012, 08:16 AM

Pommies are no pushovers like us

Naimul_Hd

June 29, 2012, 08:40 AM

Doherty strikes big time, Trott gone, good innings nonetheless !

Eng 189/4 !

kiwibd

June 29, 2012, 08:54 AM

is it just me or has this game been really boring? maybe its the playing style of cook and trott?, not saying it isn't effective batting.

Naimul_Hd

June 29, 2012, 09:03 AM

is it just me or has this game been really boring? maybe its the playing style of cook and trott?, not saying it isn't effective batting.

Pommies are struggling to post a challenging score. They should have been more aggressive, anything less than 270 would be tough to defend.

Naimul_Hd

June 29, 2012, 09:09 AM

KKR mate against each other !

Lee vs Morgan !

2 sixes of Lee's over.

Naimul_Hd

June 29, 2012, 09:11 AM

Pommie badly need another 25/30 runs in the last 3 overs.

kiwibd

June 29, 2012, 09:13 AM

Pommies are struggling to post a challenging score. They should have been more aggressive, anything less than 270 would be tough to defend.
morgan is tearing england apart now, great power hitting from a player who was benched for the whole kkr season, i am a kiwi, but morgan(and ofcourse shakib) should have been playing ahead of mcculum(mcculum was just not in good form!)

Naimul_Hd

June 29, 2012, 09:14 AM

Morgan is playing gem of an innings.

257/4 (48)

Naimul_Hd

June 29, 2012, 09:18 AM

Good comeback over by Lee.

264/4 (49)

Naimul_Hd

June 29, 2012, 09:20 AM

another 10/15 runs, Aussie will have to run for their money.

Naimul_Hd

June 29, 2012, 09:27 AM

272/5 (50) !

I would say, a challenging score. It was very tough condition at the start but England (Morgan, Trott, Kieswetter) has batted well to cross 270 mark.

Aussie should score those runs, its a perfect batting condition now.

kiwibd

June 29, 2012, 09:33 AM

272/5 (50) !

I would say, a challenging score. It was very tough condition at the start but England (Morgan, Trott, Kieswetter) has batted well to cross 270 mark.

Aussie should score those runs, its a perfect batting condition now.
very competitive total with the bowling lineup england has! will be a great contest with the explosive australian lineup

zinatf

June 29, 2012, 09:42 AM

273's gettable! Come on WADE/WARNER/WATSON!

Bonglababu

June 29, 2012, 10:25 AM

Watto gone! Aussies face early setback.

Kohli_Sox

June 29, 2012, 11:51 AM

This game might go down to the wire; Clarkey and Hussey untroubled so far

Tiger444

June 29, 2012, 12:06 PM

A good battle between these 2 teams. Always look forward to England/Australia matches.

Kohli_Sox

June 29, 2012, 12:09 PM

Aussies taking batting powerplay now but shouldn't they be looking for singles at this stage:-/; wicket falls now

Australia is 9 down but their last 2 batsmen are trying their heart out to get their and main thing about them is that they know how to stay in the crease! If it was our team, pfft if we'r 5 down then all of them will give up thinking the match is over!

cricheart

July 1, 2012, 06:55 AM

Clarkey gone early as well :(, I dont think Australia deserve it's rank atm, They are struggling in 2nd ODI also..
So far 108/3 here

cricheart

July 1, 2012, 09:19 AM

Well somehow Ausies made 250 up. It was very hard earned for them but still looks 20-25 runs behind par for against team like England.

cricheart

July 1, 2012, 11:41 AM

138/2 27th over
Progress has become smooth again for England, knocking it around and picking off boundaries when they can, no real control for Australia. -CI

F6_Turbo

July 1, 2012, 12:50 PM

England about to go up 2-0 in the series. If they whitewash Australia, they'll get the top ranking.

cricheart

July 1, 2012, 01:13 PM

Nicely convincing victory again by the English. Middle order Bopara-Morgan partnership is a class ODI strenght for them. I really forgot when they lost their last ODI. Whitewash seems very practical thinking here.

Kohli_Sox

July 1, 2012, 06:41 PM

Looks like England not feeling Pietersen's absence

Jadukor

July 2, 2012, 02:40 AM

England seems to be flying high in confidence. They have a great group of Test quality pace bowlers now to choose from for all formats which makes all the difference. The test bowlers really know how to get people out and that's what the English bowling group have done in this series (all of them sharing wickets amongst themselves)and never allowed Australia to gather any sort of momentum.

The English Batting performance was a surprise for me. Their batting order doesn't look intimidating at all and yet they were able to easily put on good totals and beat the Aussies in two consecutive games. Ian Bell might not be as dazzling as Kevin Petersen but he seems to be in the form of his life.

Kohli_Sox

July 2, 2012, 03:47 AM

England seems to be flying high in confidence. They have a great group of Test quality pace bowlers now to choose from for all formats which makes all the difference. The test bowlers really know how to get people out and that's what the English bowling group have done in this series (all of them sharing wickets amongst themselves)and never allowed Australia to gather any sort of momentum.

The English Batting performance was a surprise for me. Their batting order doesn't look intimidating at all and yet they were able to easily put on good totals and beat the Aussies in two consecutive games. Ian Bell might not be as dazzling as Kevin Petersen but he seems to be in the form of his life.

I always thought the guys who can play Test cricket well will certainly, at least 80% will also play ODI well; as you mentioned some of them might not be dazzling but very very effective. Jonathan Trott, Amla, Rahul Dravid all these guys were under hammer of criticize from all over that they are only suited for Tests before even they started their ODI careers but they proved many wrong. Proven performers in Test arena seems to have the best temperament to play ODIs. They can adjust to match situations very well.
Now that England has started to make effect on ODIs after so many years because their line up is full of proven Test players; won't be surprising if they go on to make no. 1 ODI side as well

Jadukor

July 2, 2012, 04:05 AM

The real contest will be when South Africa tour England with their full strength side. It will be a good series because we will get to see two of the world's best bowling units go at each other under helpful conditions for bowlers.

Kohli_Sox

July 2, 2012, 04:38 AM

The real contest will be when South Africa tour England with their full strength side. It will be a good series because we will get to see two of the world's best bowling units go at each other under helpful conditions for bowlers.

Yeah and England will be under pressure against SA to show that they really belong to no 1 in Test; if they lose, everyone outside England will jump all over to say how hyped they are esp when all English ex cricketers are all praising this English side as one of the best. On the other hand, SA will be relatively free of such pressure and they have the attack to rattle England top order with Steyn, Morne Morkel, Philander, Imran Tahir and Kallis to cheap in. I honestly feel England is lacking a genuine all rounder as they had in Freddie Flintoff

Jadukor

July 2, 2012, 04:45 AM

Yeah and England will be under pressure against SA to show that they really belong to no 1 in Test; if they lose, everyone outside England will jump all over to say how hyped they are esp when all English ex cricketers are all praising this English side as one of the best. On the other hand, SA will be relatively free of such pressure and they have the attack to rattle England top order with Steyn, Morne Morkel, Philander, Imran Tahir and Kallis to cheap in.

Yeah... it's a difficult one to choose a winner out of these two sides. England certainly has the edge in spin bowling with Swan and also with their late order batting (Prior, Swann, Broad, Bresnan). I haven't seen much of Imran Tahir and if he is not on the money from the get go then he could very well suffer the fate of Narine against the England top order.

South Africa's pace reserves is also a worry in my opinion. While England could switch any of their pacer attack with a quality pacer... I don't think SA has the same level of quality beyond Steyn, Morkel and Philander. It will be interesting to see how Philander does on this tour because He record in terms of wickets, strike rate and average so far is simply astonishing. He could very well tilt things in SA's favor.

Kohli_Sox

July 7, 2012, 07:15 AM

Australia already 6 wickets down for 100 runs

Nadim

July 10, 2012, 04:25 PM

Aus sucks:floor:
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F6_Turbo

July 11, 2012, 01:40 AM

Australian cricket is in shambles. A huge gulf in ability between those that have just left and those taking their places.

Even the basics have gone...dropping catches in the field, and the running, wow, it's like they've hired Inzi to be the running coach :lol:

Jadukor

July 11, 2012, 01:53 AM

Australian cricket is in shambles. A huge gulf in ability between those that have just left and those taking their places.

Even the basics have gone...dropping catches in the field, and the running, wow, it's like they've hired Inzi to be the running coach :lol:

Yep, the decline is shocking to be honest. They still have the great first class structure that produced the previous legends so I wonder what is going wrong in the manufacturing process

F6_Turbo

July 11, 2012, 02:00 AM

Yep, the decline is shocking to be honest. They still have the great first class structure that produced the previous legends so I wonder what is going wrong in the manufacturing process

I read an article a month or so back(while sitting at the airport) that Cricket Australia were looking at what the ECB was doing, and copying their model for the 1st class structure.

Oh how the mighty have fallen...Australia looking to emulate the English

BengaliPagol

July 11, 2012, 03:13 AM

Wow too many people are overeacting. Im predicting the Aussies to whitewash the Pommies in this years Ashes. Aussies are not in shambles. They dont suck. It just didnt work for them this series and its understandable. England are a solid team at home and thats the only place where they play their best cricket. Relatively new batting lineup for the Aussies so they are in a stage of experimenting but i question the inclusion of George Bailey when their is Cameron White on the wings and even the talented Callum Ferguson. Or the big one. Ponting!

If Australia cant find a suitable no. 3 batsmen then i would move Watson to no. 3 and put Aaron Finch and Warner to open the batting. Finch is an aggressive batsmen and he is the goods to be a regular international cricketer. I have high hopes for this kid. But i guess the team has to persist with Peter Forrest but he is a slow scorer.

F6_Turbo

July 11, 2012, 03:26 AM

A 'shambles' compared to the standards they've set themselves over the last 15 years. They haven't gone on some huge losing streak(they smashed India at home), but they don't have the same air of invincibility around them, and that batting looks poor.

The spin bowlers are rubbish, pacers on the other hand look promising(if a bit injury prone atm, but they're young so that's to be expected).

dash

July 11, 2012, 10:39 AM

you wont find prince harry comparing bd and aus that often....mind that the comment is rather derogatory
Prince Harry ‏@Prince___Harry
The Aussies are the new Bangladesh of cricket. #engvaus
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